guttersnipe
noun
Susan HaubenstockHodding Carter III
Did you know?
"Unfurl yourselves under my banner, noble savages, illustrious guttersnipes," wrote Mark Twain sometime around 1869. Twain was among the first writers to use guttersnipe for a young hoodlum or street urchin. In doing so, he was following a trend among writers of the time to associate gutter (a low area at the side of a road) with a low station in life. Other writers in the late 19th century used guttersnipe more literally as a name for certain kinds of snipes, or birds with long thin beaks that live in wet areas. Gutter-bird was another term that was used for both birds and disreputable persons. And even snipe itself has a history as a term of opprobrium; it was used as such during William Shakespeare's day.
Examples of guttersnipe in a Sentence
Lauren Groff, The Atlantic, 28 Sep. 2024
Our point-of-entry into the world of competitive bloodsport is Tenax (Iwan Rheon, better than the inconsistent writing), a former guttersnipe who has risen to control a wildly successful gambling concern tied to the chariot races in the Circus Maximus.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 July 2024
And looking back sadly, the United States will probably never have another halcyon period like that to squander with minimalist ambitions and guttersnipe politics about nothing.
—Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 27 June 2022
The guttersnipes have outfoxed the plutocrats, for once.
—Kyle Smith, National Review, 3 Oct. 2019
They are barred from using certain language during debates including git, guttersnipe, swine and stool pigeon.
—Max Colchester, WSJ, 3 Jan. 2019
From the massive success of post-grunge rockers Stone Temple Pilots to commercial guttersnipe supergroup Velvet Revolver, singer Scott Weiland's expansive talent cast a long shadow.
—Katherine Turman, Esquire, 4 Dec. 2015
There were no sound and light shows, no teenage haute guttersnipes, no thumbing his nose at the rules.
—Vanessa Friedman, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2016
Cite this Entry
“Guttersnipe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guttersnipe. Accessed 13 Jul. 2025.
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